Fall FO's Part III

 
  Off My Spindles/Wheel:
 
  Columbia-Merino cross:  there is a definite difference in this Columbia/Merino cross ("CxM") fiber than the solely Columbia fiber I previously spun.  The Columbia fiber was soft but crisp.  This CxM fiber is soft with an almost whispy/silky texture.  Also the finer staples allowed me to spin my finest singles from attenuated longdraw to date.  Very little veggie matter, short cuts & nepps meant I could card without precombing or flicking, giving me little waste and excellent (for me) yardage: three skeins of woolen spun fingering wt 3ply, about 840 yds total from eight ounces of fleece.  
   
   
   
   
   
 
   
   
  
   
   Manx Loughtan This is a breed I didn't get to spin in 2011 when I was doing the SpinDoctor Wool Breeds Challenge, so when I saw it at The Spinning Loft I couldn't resist. Manx Loughtan is one of the Northwestern European shorttail sheep breeds, and is on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's watch list.
  
  "Loaghtans and their relatives covered the hills of the Isle of Man until the 18th century but by the 1950s numbers had declined to a handful. As a result of the work of enthusiasts on the Isle of Man and in England, numbers have steadily increased over the last 50 years. Continued success will ensure the Loaghtan has a future providing excellent quality meat and wool as a pure bred." [Source: Manx Loughtan Sheep Breeders Group http://www.manxloaghtansheep.org/ ]  
  
  "Manx Loghtan fleece is a uniform dark brown, but is paler on the outside where it has been exposed to the sun. It can be either woolly or hairy. The wool is used for hosiery and knitwear, and the staple length is 7-10cm. Technical information about the fleece: Staple length 7-10cm, Fleece weight 1.5-2kg, Bradford count 46-54, Micron measurement 27-33" [Source: British Colored Sheep Breeders Assoc. http://www.bcsba.org.uk/coloured-sheep/manx-loghtan-sheep.html ]
 
  This fiber was spun point of twist from the fold on both my spindle and wheel, and wheel plied for about 490 yards of 2ply fingering weight yarn from four ounces. I enjoyed spinning this and would spin it again.  
  
   
 
   
   
 
   
 

WIPs and SWIPs

 
 
On My Needles: I keep poking through my knitting WIPs basket, but my only reaction is  Eh!   Not good.  I should be swatching for my SPAKAL sweaters (yes, plural), but its just not happening.  Also Not Good.  So the only knitting I've been working on lately are my striped socks in the Woolgathering colorway.  I'm about four inches down the foot on the second sock. I need to finish it, put the afterthought heel in the first one, and then they'll be finished.  At least something will be finished.
 
 
 
  On My Spindles:  
 
  Once again I'm working on multiple projects at the same time, or perhaps it's more accurate to say serially rather than at the same time.  
 
  There's the Manx Loughton.  This is the first spindle worth:
 
 
 

Then there's the Shetland in black and white I'm spinning for my Dumbledore's Army project on Hogwarts at Ravelry group (sshhhh it's a secret).  My singles are spun, I just need to ply




 I finished spinning the Columbia and moved on to the Columbia/Merino cross or CxM.  The staple length for most of this is less than 2 inches so I'm not combing first, just hand picking and hand carding.  I'm almost finished carding and already spun 10 bobbins worth.  Pic shows rolags left to spin, fleece left to card and spun singles.

 

Of  course, there's also the East Friesian cross that I haven't touched in over a month.  I'm not even sure where I left off on that.  Think I needed to wash more fleece and just wasn't in the mood. 
 And the "Promise" fiber that's buried in the bottom of the SWIPs basket.  Haven't touched that since August or thereabouts.

And then there's this:



This  bit of loveliness is what I really want to spin right now.  It's 8 ounces of BFL from Crown Mountain Farms, dyed in the Annunaki on Tiamat colorway.  I keep picking it up and petting it.   But No. There's this voice that keeps telling me to Step Away From The Fiber. You can't spin it until you finish two SWIPs. Three would be better but two is good.   Damn annoying voice! insert fingers in ears La la la la, I can't hear you!



Brought To Me By:  
  Audiobooks:  These Old Shades & Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer;    
  DVDs etc:   True Blood S3; Cadfael;
  Pod/VideoCasts:   The Knit Girllls; Round The Twist;
 

We Have Knitting & Spinning

On My Needles:
"Woolgathering Socks" were started as stripey plain vanilla afterthought heel socks in Three Ewes Twisted in Fiber yarn.  The first sock was finished (except for the heel) last month, and the second started.  Along the way on the second sock, I read about Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel and couldn't wait to try it.  So I did.  Me likey!   This is my first Sweet Tomato Heel:  
   
   
 
Of course, this means my socks will be mismatched with two different heels, but who cares -  they're heels
  Modifications to original pattern:  heel worked on 60% instead of 2/3rds(66%) of stitches; center heel sts 12 on 1st repeat, 10 on 2nd, & 16 on 3rd (no idea why I did that, but it worked).  
   
   
  On My Spindles:   
   
  I've been working on the Columbia fleece I started processing/spinning last year. This was slightly less than a pound of pre-washed fleece from two sheep that I acquired separately, so there's a difference in the fiber's texture & color. As of this morning when I finished spinning, I have thirteen bobbins of singles to ply tomorrow. That should be enough for two more skeins of 3ply.
 
   
   
   
   Also started spinning the Manx Loughton I've been eyeing for six months. Its really wonderful fiber prep and lovely to spin. This will be a 2ply, and I'm spindle spinning semi-worsted.  
 
   
  Brought To Me By:  
  Audiobooks:    
  DVDs etc: True Blood S3.1-4; Buffy TVS S7.11-end; Moonlight S1.1-16;   (guess I'm on a vamp role)
  Pod/VideoCasts: The Knit Girllls; The Knitmore Girls; The Pagan Knitter; Round The Twist;      
 

On My Spindles

On My Spindles:

I finally finished washing Tex, the never-ending Texel crossbreed fleece - all of it. And I've been combing and carding enough every few days to fill a two-gallon bag with rolags to spin. So far this week that's two bags which spun up to seven variable sized bobbins of singles. I'm guestimating that I will end up with enough singles for at least two maybe three more skeins of yarn. I also need to start "finishing" the 22 skeins I've already spun, i.e. giving them a soak to set the twist and see how much they'll poof up. With any luck I'll be finished spinning this fleece this weekend. Yay!

As part of my WIP Busting efforts, I've pulled out the rest of the white fleeces I started spinning last year and before. That's a Shetland, a Merino cross, and a Columbia. They're the washed stuff, and range in weight from half a pound to about two pounds. There's also the other half of Mo, and the original never-ending fleeces: the two Clun Forest. They need scouring.

After all that white, I needed a little color so this past weekend I started spinning the twelve ounces of Gotland I got last Spring from Two Sisters Stringworks.

I'm spinning this mostly from the fold, semi-woollen, and planning to chain/Navajo ply. It will probably be a thicker yarn than I'd originally envisioned, but since I have twelve ounces I'm pretty sure I can get enough for a good sized shawl.



Brought To Me By:
Audiobooks:
DVDs etc: Doctor Who (season 6); Downton Abbey (S2);
Pod/VideoCasts:  Knitting Pipeline; The Knit Girllls; Round The Twist; Yarnspinners Tales;

Wool Breeds Challenge - Columbia and Hog Island

Columbia and Hog Island

Columbia is a recent US breed created by crossing Rambouillet and Lincoln sheep. It is a dual purpose (meat and wool) breed with a micron count of 24 to 31, and an average staple length of 3.5 to 5 inches.

My sample fiber, from pre-washed fleece, falls on the short end of the scale. Many locks are only two inches, although there are locks in the three to four inch range. Just not many of them, or at least there weren't in the portion of the sample I worked with. There's a lot more left that I haven't gone through yet, so....

Anyway, it has a soft but crisp hand, no luster. I flicked first then hand carded. It cards nicely and spins well from the rolags. I spun long drawish from the rolags for a 2ply and a 4ply yarn.

Hog Island

Hog Island is a critically rare feral sheep breed, and not listed in either of my reference books. About 200 years ago a flock of sheep were left on Hog Island off the Virginia coast to fend for themselves. Over time, they adapted to the island conditions and became feral sheep. The island was purchased in the 1970s by the Nature Conservancy who considered the sheep detrimental to the island environment. Some sheep were slaughtered, others were removed from the island and now reside at historical sites in Virginia. Because they are feral, Hog Island wool is variable in type and amount [hogislandsheep.org]

I found the sample I received had a short staple length of less than 1.5 inches and was coarse feeling. Like it was all combing waste. This was commercial roving prep. It was very difficult to spin directly from the roving, so I re-carded it (hand cards) and spun it long draw for a 2ply sample.

I realize, because of the variability of this Sheep's fleece quality, that my sample might not be the best or even typical of the breed. That said, I found Hog Island to be very unpleasant to work with, and I would need some serious bribery (like really, really good chocolate, or some washed Cormo) to tackle this breed again. And that's very unfortunate considering the critical rare status of the breed.